Chapter 17
Jayden scrutinised the eager faces around her in a small semicircle. Three pairs waited to be given the scenario they would have to safely navigate. Three ropes hung from the rock faces close by them.
“Okay, scenario one: your lead climber’s unconscious and with a limb jammed in a crack, but his weight is still loading your belay. You need to escape your belay and effect a rescue. You have approximately twenty-five feet of slack in your line. Do not let your casualty drop. They’d break the limb and in all likelihood end up dead from smacking their heads on the rock wall, or if they came loose, they’d fall to their deaths. But I’m sure I don’t need to reiterate all that to you, do I?”
Six bobbing heads greeted her mutely.
“Okay, Sky, Jake, Felix, you’re our casualties. Hunter, Liv, and Lonnie, let’s see what you can do.”
The three casualties quickly climbed the twenty feet she needed of them to weight the lines and find a sufficient crack to cling to. No real stuck limbs…just in case. But close enough for the simulation to be effective.
Hunter went quickly into action as soon as Felix stopped moving. He tied a Mule knot to free his hands from holding Felix’s weight on the loose line. He used the slack on his line to tie on to his anchor point with a figure-of-eight knot before slipping a cordlette over his shoulder and securing it to the loaded line with a Klemheist knot above his Mule knot. The final step in releasing himself from the belay was to attach the carabiner in his Klemheist knot to the remaining slack fixed to the anchor behind him.
Jayden glanced at her watch. Less than two minutes. “Good. What’re you going to do now?”
“Use the line to ascend and assess his situation.”
“How?”
“Prusik foot loop to help me up the rope that I know is safely anchored at both ends. I’ll use a carabiner to keep me attached to the line and use another strap through my harness with a couple of Prusik knots on either side to slide up the line.”
“Do it.”
He clearly knew what he needed to do. Quickly. She was happy to leave Santiago watching his progress while she turned her attention to Lonnie, who was still struggling with his Mule knot to secure the load from his hands. She walked over, her crampons biting into the ice as she moved, and spoke quietly to him. She walked him through the movement step by step as he finally managed to secure the knot he needed and begin to secure his anchor. She ignored the flush of frustration that coloured his cheeks. There was no place for pride or ego when it came to survival.
Liv started to scoot herself up the rope towards Sky, only a minute or so behind Hunter. Another impressive show from the shy climber who had had little to say for herself in the two days they’d been on the ice, yet had put in solid performances around the camp, including her skills on the rope and on the wall.
Overall, they’d all put in some solid performances. Lonnie was the one who had struggled the most with this exercise, but he was managing now. Every one of them had managed to successfully rescue their beleaguered lead climber. So far, anyway. And most of them had done so with practical ease that spoke of much repeated practice of the skills. Pete’s knotwork was simply a little rusty. Not unusual for a free-solo climber who didn’t climb with a buddy or a rope most of the time. She had a feeling he’d be sitting around the camp after dinner tonight with his practice cord, tying and retying knots until he could do them without looking. Exactly as she wanted. This was playtime. This was a chance to figure out where they needed work and to put that work in.
Once each of them had freed their climber and returned them safely to the ground, they switched roles. They moved quickly through the skills. No one wanted to be standing around, or hanging on a rope for too long. The wind was picking up, and the chill was chapping at their noses and cheeks. They ran through four scenarios in total, completing each one successfully with no pretend fatalities.
As far as Jayden was concerned, it was another good day on the mountain. She’d missed this part of her job, of her old life. She loved teaching people the skills they needed to survive out here. She had those skills. She had the knowledge. People were drawn to the mountains, to the ice, to the thrill of the challenge. It was something primeval and instinctive that called to the adventurer inside. It always would.
New people would always be attempting new challenges; it was human nature. And the mountains would claim their share of souls as payment. Not everyone who sought the summit would come down safely. But she had the skills to give those who tried the best chance they could get of accomplishing it. She could help most of them return home safe at the end of the day. She could. In her head, she knew it. Seeing Lonnie’s triumph as he successfully negotiated the last three scenarios only made that clear to her. The image of Rebecca’s dead eyes would always haunt her. But running from that wouldn’t ease the burden of guilt she carried. Only using it to fuel her desire to bring home safely as many people as she could would do that. Preventing as many people as possible from having to live with the nightmare that still woke her at night was the only good thing she could ever hope to achieve from that disaster.
This place, this job…this was what she was born to do. She just had to keep her heart believing it.